


It started as a simple crush.

by AquaFlowerBee



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Fluff and Angst, How They Met, M/M, Romance, Slow Burn, angsty, caring hugh, i wrote this before s01e07, none canon meeting, not canon, straal is here, virgin stamets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-01-27 05:38:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12574884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AquaFlowerBee/pseuds/AquaFlowerBee
Summary: How Paul Stamets and Hugh Culber became Culmets and all the trials and tribulations along the way towards the comfortable relationship they have today.Slight AU.**I wrote this before s01e07 so it's not based on their actual meeting**





	1. The first time they saw each other.

**Author's Note:**

> **I wrote this before s01e07!! so it's not based on their actual meeting**  
> I do want to write how they actually met in another fic though, because it sounds so cute!!  
> I LOVED S01E07!!

The discovery was just a new ship that was just getting set up and ready to take off into the galaxy, it contained a large amount of new crew members, some more advanced than others and some were still learning…

“Pace it down _carefully _” Paul Stamets told the cadet that was carrying the precious cargo__

____

They were currently moving a glass container that was the size of a shoebox, in it contained microspores, Paul and the cadet assigned to this task were moving them from the academy lab into the new lab that was situated on the USS Discovery, Paul Stamets at the time was only a cadet but that didn't mean he wasn't keeping a extremely close eye on the cadet next to him who was carrying the delicate spores, so Paul saw the exact moment when cadet Sam Trout’s foot hit an ever so slight raise in the Discovery’s floor, Paul watched in what felt like slow motion as Sam fell forward and his hands flew out to break his fall causing the glass container to fly from his hands and smash loudly against the white washed walls, next to him before Paul could think about it he reached over the fallen cadet in hopes to save the spores before they were destroyed, but all he managed to grabbed was shards of glass

“You idiot!” Paul said looking down at the fallen cadet

Sam pushed himself up from the floor “Yeah I’m ok thanks for asking” he said sarcastically as he brushed himself off

“You destroyed the microspores!” Paul said as his voice rising loudly with each word

“Calm down Stamets, there's more of them to bring up here, it's not like the whole lot has been destroyed” Sam explained

Paul took in a deep breath in hopes to cool his ever rising temper “That is not that point” he said through gritted teeth

Sam looked down at the broken glass “I should clean this up” he said choosing to ignore Paul rather than start another fight with him, that's all they did throughout their says at the academy, they’d argue with each other, so Sam ignored him and bent down to pick up the larger bits of broken glass when he noticed Paul’s hand was stained red “Are you ok?”

Paul looked down at Sam and followed his line of sight to his hand, it was covered in blood, he didn't even realise how deep the glass shards had cut him, he didn’t even feel it he was so focused on saving the spores, but now as he looked at it, it stung quiet badly “I’m fine” he grunted out

Sam stood back up, he was taller than Paul standing at a tall 6’1” compared to Pauls 5’5”, so Sam had to reach down to grab Paul’s hand to take a closer look at his bleeding palm, which caused Paul to wince noticeably “You need to go get this fixed in sickbay”

“I said I was fine” Paul said stubbornly yanking his hand out of Sam’s grip

“Look Stamets, I’m going to clean this up,” he pointed to the broken glass scattered on the floor “And in the meantime you should go get your hand fixed so then you can carry the next lot of microspores in, plus I don't think the captain would be happy to hear that one of his cadets aren't seeking medical attention when needed” he finished smugly knowing that Paul was just a new cadet and wanted to please the captain in the hopes of becoming a lieutenant faster

“You're so infuriating!” Paul said as he spun around and marched off towards the sickbay, he could hear Sam chuckling fade off in the background as he walked further away.

~~~~

Once Paul successfully found the doors to the sickbay he stood in front of the sliding door, he shut his eyes tightly and took in another deep breath _‘Just get in, get it fixed and get out’ _he thought to himself before he pressed the button on next to the door and the door opened in one quick swoop, he walked into the sickbay area and noticed it was a decently sized room with beds and equipment placed around it strategically, there weren't many people in the room besides two doctors, three nurses and one lieutenant who was flirting with one of the female nurses shamelessly in one corner of the room__

____

Paul had never been into sickbay yet so he didn't really know what to do, he just stood near the door awkwardly, that was until one of the two doctors looked up from the computer she was typing on, she looked Paul up and down and noticed his bloody hand, she then looked behind her

“Doctor Culber will you help this cadet out please” she said to the second doctor who had his back to them while he was, what looked like, stocking up the equipment onto the back shelving area

When Doctor Culber spun around with a gentle smile on his face, Paul thought he’d never seen such a beautiful man in his life, he wore the required USS discovery medical whites with the silver trim and badge that brought out the gorgeousness of his dark skin, he was a few inches taller than Paul but that wasn’t a surprise as 99% of the men on this ship where taller than him, Paul could feel his cheeks getting warm and he cursed his snow white skin as he was sure the small blush was noticeable

“Hi, I’m Doctor Hugh Culber” He said in a smooth voice as he walked up to where Paul was standing rigidly, his large chocolate brown eyes felt like they were boring into Paul’s soul “follow me and I’ll fix up your hand”

Paul just nodded not trusting his voice, Hugh lead him to one of the medical beds “sit here and I’ll be right back” and with that Hugh went off towards the other Doctor and she handed him a dermal regenerator which he carried back to where Paul was seated

“Can I see your hand please?” Hugh asked as he held out his hand waiting for Paul to place his own on top of it, it took a second or two for Paul’s brain to realise what Hugh wanted Paul to do, he placed his pale hand palm side up into Hugh’s warmer darker one

“This may sting a little” Hugh explained as he placed the small scan like device over the cuts on Paul’s palm, Paul hissed a little when it first started working but was intrigued to watch as it worked on healing his hand “So how did you get these cuts?” Hugh asked curiously breaking the silence they had between them

“Glass” Paul said quietly

“Glass?” Hugh asked confused “As in broken glass?”

Paul nodded “I was trying to save the microspores”

Hugh chuckled, which made Paul look down at his lap and blush a deeper shade of red, he thought that Hugh was laughing at him like everyone else, everyone else used to laugh at him when he’d get excited about mushrooms, that’s probably why he didn’t make any friends at the academy, he guess he could count his roommate as a friend, but Staal was more of an acquaintance than anything else, no matter how many times Staal said they were in fact friends

“I’m guessing you didn’t save them?” Hugh asked smiling at Paul

Paul shook his head “no the broken glass got in the way” he said as he looked up at Hugh who was still smiling down at him kindly, Paul wondered if this Dr Hugh Culber was going to be one of the resident doctors on the discovery, he assumed so, he also hoped so, maybe then he wouldn’t be so reluctant to get medical attention when needed it if his doctor would be Hugh

“You’re all done” Hugh said breaking Paul out of his thoughts

He looked down at his palm it looked like nothing had ever happened to it, Hugh still had a gentle hold his hand, Paul stared at his pale hand in Hugh’s dark one, the contrast of colouring was vast but seemed to look perfect to Paul, and he enjoyed the softness of Hugh’s hand against his own

“Are you ok?” Hugh asked looking into Paul’s crystal blue eyes

Paul pulled his hand out of Hugh’s missing his touch instantly “I’m fine” he stood up abruptly almost knocking up against Hugh “Thank you” he said in a rushed voice and hurried out of the sickbay in an instant

Hugh watched as Paul hurried out of the room, he looked back at doctor Sierra, she was still sitting at the desk but wasn't doing any work, she was looking at Hugh with a raised eyebrow “seems like someone has a crush on our young resident doctor” she laughed

“Oh please” Hugh said brushing off her comment, he grabbed the nearest PADD and then realised he didn't catch the name of the man he just helped, now he couldn’t add the medical information into his file, he sighed audibly

“What’s wrong?” doctor Sierra asked

“I didn't get his name so I can’t add in what happened today into his file” Hugh explained

“I’m pretty sure that was Cadet Paul Stamets” doctor Sierra told Hugh “I’ve treated him once before but he wasn't even half as quiet as he was with you, when I dealt with him he was complaining _the whole time _”__

____

Hugh laughed and quickly typed in ‘Paul Stamets’ into the PADD and Paul’s profile popped up instantly

[Profile image]  
Name: Paul Stamets  
Species: Human  
Gender: Male  
Age: 25  
Place of birth: Joliet, Illinois, United States  
Rank: Cadet  
Specialty: Mycologist and Engineering science  
Serial Number: 2401-3254-987

Medical:  
**15th of June 2231 at 11:23 a.m. **repair of fractured arm, patient fine. Doctor Janet Sierra.  
**11th of September 2231 at 2:09 p.m. **repair of multiple cuts on patient’s right palm. Doctor Hugh Culber.********

********** **

After Hugh read Paul’s profile and added in the information that he had to, he looked at Paul’s profile image, Hugh thought Paul was cute with his soft looking blond hair, large expressive blue eyes and pale complexion; he smiled to himself before placing the PADD on the desk that was currently occupied by Dr Sierra

********** **

“Looks like maybe our young resident doctor has a crush on our crazy mushroom scientist” Dr Sierra laughed

********** **

Hugh blushed deeply “Oh please” he repeated his previous statement and went back to stocking the shelves.

********** **


	2. No I don't, Yes you do.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Straal is around and even he notices the blooming crush between the two men.  
> Also Hugh proposes something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gave Straal a first name, I didnt want to keep calling him Straal while everyone else had a first name lol  
> Also I have no idea what time writing xD which is how i feel most of the time, I hope you enjoy this chapter, its a SLOOOOW burning fic.

The next morning Hugh went down to the cafeteria for breakfast before he went back to sickbay to help set up the rest of the medical supplies, he walked into the decently sized cafeteria room, it was filled with round and rectangular light grey tables with matching plain grey chairs, Hugh strolled up to the ordering station and leaned casually on the wall next to it

“Computer, one cinnamon oatmeal, hot, and a green tea” Hugh told the computer and within seconds the small window opened and the computer repeated ‘One cinnamon oatmeal, hot, and a green tea’ he reached in and took the tray that held his breakfast, he turned around to find somewhere to sit, his eyes scanned the room slowly and they caught sight of a pale blond head sitting next to a tanned brunette man, he knew the blond man was Cadet Paul Stamets but he wasn't sure who the other man was, he carefully walked up to the table they were sitting at, Paul had his nose in a book while the brunette next to him ate his breakfast in a comfortable silence

The brunette man looked up at Hugh suddenly, who was currently standing at their table in front of an empty seat smiling kindly “Is this seat taken?” he asked

As soon as he spoke Paul looked up instantly with wide dark blue eyes that stared at Hugh intensely, the brunette looked at Paul weirdly raising a dark eyebrow at him, he then turned to the still standing Hugh “No, go ahead” he said pointing to the seat that was directly in front of him and next to Paul on his right

“Thank you” Hugh said placing his tray down in front of him

“I’m Cadet Sidd Straal” Sidd said and held out his hand for Hugh to shake

Hugh reached over the table and shook Sidd’s hand firmly “Nice to meet you, I’m Doctor Hugh Culber”

Sidd looked over at Paul again, waiting for him to introduce himself, but Paul was awkwardly looking down at his book with what looked like a blush covering his pale cheeks, Sidd looked back at Hugh

“I’m sorry about my rude friend here, he’s Cadet Paul Stamets” Sidd said as he kicked Paul under the table

Paul hissed in pain and looked up from his book, he gave Sidd a glare before his eyes slid over to Hugh, he was giving Paul the same kind smile that made Paul’s stomach erupt with butterflies

“We’ve met before actually” Hugh said to Sidd but his dark brown eyes never left Paul’s face

“You’ve met?” Sidd said with confusion laced in his words

Hugh nodded and let his eyes travel to Sidd’s darker ones as he explained “In sickbay yesterday, Cadet Stamets had an accident with some glass”

The redness in Paul’s cheeks darkened to a deeper shade of scarlet as Sidd chuckled and asked “What?”

“It was nothing” Paul mumbled breaking his silence

“Wow I’ve never, in the 5 years of knowing you, have ever seen you this flustered” Sidd directed his words to Paul in a light tone

Paul stood up quickly shoving his chair back causing the other two men to look at him in shock “I have things to do” he said in a prickly tone and took off with his book in hand and stomped towards the exit

“Now that's the Stamets I know” Sidd told Hugh with a knowing expression

Nodding slowly Hugh looked down at his still steaming oatmeal, he picked up the polished silver spoon and began to eat, computerised space food wasn't terrible but it had nothing on Hugh’s home cooking, he wondered what Paul’s favourite food was

“So you must have made a lasting impression on Paul” Sidd began saying breaking Hugh from his thoughts “I’ve never seen him blush, let alone get nervous around anyone”

A small chuckle escaped Hugh’s lips “I fixed his hand and then he ran off, quite similar as to how he just ran off now” Hugh explained “I didn't do anything I wouldn't have done for any other patient” he said matter-of-factly and ate another mouthful of his cinnamon oatmeal

Sidd looked over at the empty doorway that Paul has scurried out of only seconds ago “Hmmm” he hummed inquisitively

He raised an eyebrow at Sidd and swallowed the oatmeal in his mouth “What?”

“Nothing” Sidd said quickly, and stood up slowly “I should be getting back to helping out”

“Well it was nice to meet you, hopefully I’ll see you around, and not in my sickbay” Hugh said with a laugh

“I’m just here to help make sure everything’s ready for the Discovery’s take off, I’m actually assigned to board the USS Glenn, but that's another year away from take off so Paul asked if I wanted to kill some time and help out here” Sidd explained as he pushed his chair in and grabbed his tray that now held his empty plates and cutlery from breakfast “I will be at the launching ceremony though, the one that's held the day before the official launch, which I’ll also be at” he said with a smile

Hugh smiled back “Will Cadet Stamets be assigned to USS Glenn too?” Hugh asked trying to make it sound like a casual question

Sidd gave him a knowing look “No he’s assigned to the USS Discovery”

“Oh okay” Hugh replied trying to hide his overly happy smile

“I better go find the brood” Sidd said as he looked over at the cafeteria door again, then back at Hugh “See you at lunch?”

“Sure” Hugh gave him a wave goodbye

Sidd disposed of his tray and headed towards Paul’s quarters, he knew his friend would be there, most probably lying on his bed over thinking things like he always did

~~~~

After Paul had stormed out of the cafeteria dramatically, he wondered down the corridor of the Discovery and ended up at his current temporary sleeping quarters, he punched in his security code and hit the button to open the door, it swooshed open allowing him to step into the small room, it had two beds on either side of the room, this was his temporary room as when he officially moved into the Discovery he’d have a much larger living space, but for now he shared this room with Staal, which he wasn't complaining about

He carefully threw his book onto the bedside table and flopped face first onto his bed, he groaned audibly into his pillow before turning his head to the right, he lay there in the dimply lit room for what felt like hours before he heard the familiar sound of the bedroom door opening, he looked towards the door and saw Sidd standing there

“Paul what’s going on with you?” Sidd asked as he walked deeper into the dark room

“I don't know” Paul groaned miserably as he rolled over onto his back

Sidd walked up to Paul’s bed “What do you mean you don't know?” he asked as he looked down at Paul

“My body is malfunctioning”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Sidd frowned getting worried

“The two times that I’ve seen that doctor, my body had reacted weirdly, my heart starts beating rapidly, my face gets extremely hot and my stomach flips so much that it almost hurts” Paul explained as he clutched at his uniform-clad stomach

Sidd shook his head slowly and laughed “You’ve got a crush” Sidd stated it as a fact

Paul sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed “What? No I **don't** ” he said sounding like a preteen who thought kissing was icky

It made Sidd laugh more “Yeah, **you do** ” he sat down next to Paul on the bed, he placed his hand on Paul’s shoulder “It just shows that you actually have a heart and that you’re an actual human and not secretly an Android dressed up as one”

“This sucks” Paul groaned putting his face in his hands “Maybe I should ask for a transfer, I could ask to join the USS Glenn”

“Don't be stupid” Sidd said as he lightly hit Paul on the back of the head “You've worked your ass off in the academy to get here and now you're willing to throw it all away? And for what? Feelings?”

An embarrassed blush made its way up Paul’s neck to his cheeks “No” he grumbled

Sidd grabbed Paul’s shoulder tightly “Don't let silly feelings get in the way of your work, focus on what you find most important, ok?” he said with a serious look on his face, he liked Doctor Culber from the short meeting they had during breakfast, and he could tell by the way he looked at Paul that he liked Paul in a possibly more than friendship kind of way, and he’d like to think that he knew his friend pretty well, he knew Paul had never been on a date before let alone fell in love with someone, it would either distract him completely from the research they were conducting, or it would break his heart and he’d be a mess for weeks on end with Staal on another star ship unable to pull Paul out of it, but he also knew he wouldn't be around for much longer as the USS Discovery is set to leave in 5 days which meant he had 5 days to help Paul and his hopeless feelings

Paul sighed and broke Sidd from his internal struggles “Come on” Sidd said standing up from the bed “We need to get back to work”

~~~~

Sidd and Paul walked into the cafeteria at 12pm for lunch, they ordered their meals and went to find a table to sit at, Sidd noticed Hugh waving at them to sit with him “Paul, let's go sit with the doctor”

Paul’s eyes widened “What? No” he whispered to Sidd urgently

“Come on Paul” Sidd said as he walked off towards the table that Hugh was currently sitting at, he heard Paul huff but follow closely behind

They both sat across from Hugh on the rectangular white dining table, “How are things?” Hugh asked them both

“Almost finished actually” Sidd began “And surprisingly Paul hasn't murdered Cadet Trout throughout the whole time that we’ve been here”

Paul frowned at Sidd “There’s still time”

This made Sidd shake his head and Hugh laughed which made Paul’s stomach flip, he instantly wanted to make Hugh laugh again

“So what have you guys got left to do?” Hugh asked as he took a bite of his sandwich

“Mainly just the clean and set up the engineering lab” Sidd said “And helping move Paul into his official quarters, while hoping he’s rooming with someone who can handle him”

Hugh’s face lit up at the last sentence “You could always room with me” Hugh said as he looked at Paul, whose head whipped up to look Hugh with shock and confusion written all over his face “I mean in a non creepy way” Hugh started “My current roommate got a transfer to another space station so I can request a new roommate” he rambled on trying to make sense of his bold offer to a man he barely knew and hadn’t really had a proper conversation with yet, but Hugh felt something when he was near Paul, something told him Paul was someone special

There was a silence for what seemed like minutes “You can say no”

“No” Paul said then realised how it sounded and in lightening speed he quickly added “I mean! No that sounds… good? We barely know each other, but I guess I know you more than the random person they'd choose for me, if that makes sense?”

A smile from Hugh made Paul slow down “So... yes” Paul added

Hugh laughed lightly “Alright then, I’ll sort things out, the room number is 254” he told Paul “So you can move your things in if you like”

Watching the exchange between the two men Sidd knew by the end of the year they’d be hopelessly in love with each other, he didn't know if Paul would admit it, but then again he didn’t think Paul would agree to move in with someone he hardly knew, yet here he was watching the exchange between the two men

He had less than 5 days to help Paul out with his ever growing crush step one is to get him to admit it out loud, only then could he move onto step two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah I know this is culber trash you dont need to tell me lol But I'm going to continue writing it because I AM trash :) and I'm having way too much fun with my trash.  
> follow me on twitter so we can talk culber trash together! I need more star trek disco friends! @Aquaflowerbee

**Author's Note:**

> I hope y'all enjoyed this is a chapter fic I don't know how many.  
> So if you did by some miracle actually enjoy this stay tuned as there is more to come :)


End file.
